Boys team state wrestling notes: Road to runner-up not easy for Crystal Lake Central

Mike Helfgot

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. &#8212; Crystal Lake Central advanced to the team state wrestling final for the first time Saturday &#8211; and the Tigers did it the hard way.

Before falling to Montini in the 2A final, Crystal Lake Central pulled out quarterfinal- and semifinal victories over Sycamore and Lemont in a pair of duals that came down to the final match.

Taylor Servant's 13-1 major decision at 145 pounds gave the Tigers a 39-36 victory over Lemont in the semifinals.

Christian Malouf clinched the 39-32 victory over Sycamore with a first-period pin at 140 pounds and also recorded a key pin in the quarterfinals as Crystal Lake Central overcame a 36-29 deficit with two bouts remaining.

Malouf was a state quarterfinalist at 135 pounds, while Servant finished second in the state at 140.

Crystal Lake Central finished third last year, losing to Montini in the semifinals.

Porta pulls off 1A victory: The Petersburg Porta-Greenview co-op pulled out two close matches to capture its first state championship.

The more difficult of the two came first &#8212; a 31-27 semifinal victory that snapped Wilmington's run of three consecutive 1A championships. Porta clinched the championship with one bout to go and forfeited the final bout of its 33-27 victory over Gibson City.

Marcus Durrett and Stormy Hild had the two biggest wins for Porta. Durrett scored a 2-1 decision at 140 to tie the meet at 27 with one bout remaining. Hild followed with a 13-3 major decision.

Perfect: Lemont's Matt Leibforth and Marmion's Ben Whitford may not have gone home happy, but their spotless 2009-10 records will forever be in tact.

Leibforth, the 2A 135-pound state champion, scored the maximum 18 points for his team, recording two pins and a forfeit victory to finish off a 45-0 season for third-place Lemont.

Whitford (44-0) wrestled just once because Marmion was eliminated by Montini in the quarterfinals. He won by fall in the second period.